Hi-Lo League adds Mojave in football for 2014

Thursday

Jun 5, 2014 at 1:30 PM

Next season, the Hi-Lo League will be tougher and deeper in football thanks to a recent addition. Mojave High School is joining the league for 8-man football, a decision approved at a league meeting in May.

By Anthony GentileSPORTS EDITORagentile@ridgecrestca.com

Next season, the Hi-Lo League will be tougher and deeper in football thanks to a recent addition. Mojave High School is joining the league for 8-man football, a decision approved at a league meeting in May.“It’s definitely going to bring more respect to our league and make it deeper,” said Kent Schmidt, Hi-Lo League president and Trona athletic director. “They’ve been a powerhouse in 8-man football since they joined.”Mojave joins Trona, Immanuel Christian, Lone Pine, Big Pine and Lee Vining on the gridiron next fall — Baker will not field a team. The Mustangs lost to Avalon 44-27 in the CIF Southern Section 8-man Division 1 championship last year, and are expected to contend right away for the Hi-Lo title after a 9-1 season.“I think the schools were more in favor of it this year because some of them that haven’t been fielding teams realized they were holding the rest of us back,” Schmidt said.Mojave’s Hi-Lo membership for football will be voted on yearly. The Mustangs are interested in joining the league in all sports as early as the 2015-16 season, something that could be addressed at the league’s August meeting — a unanimous vote would be needed for that to happen. “We in Trona are in favor of adding them just because they’re so centrally located and it’s a close trip,” Schmidt said. “We decided to try and play them in non-league in as many sports as we can.”The league also elected its officials for the 2014-15 school year at last month’s meeting — they include Schmidt and Big Pine athletic director Bob Church. ICS hasn’t yet named a replacement for Bob Smith, and the Crusaders’ new athletic director is expected to be league treasurer because of the school’s central location.As president, Schmidt is continuing his push to move the Hi-Lo League to the CIF Central Section from CIF-SS. He points to the success that the High Desert League — California City, Bishop, Rosamond, Kern Valley and Frazier Mountain — had in multiple sports in 2013-14 after deciding to make the move prior to last season.“We’ve been having trouble getting everybody on board with that,” Schmidt said. “I’ve been trying to push for that — I really believe that would be good for our league.”